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o V 




MEMORIAL 



Congress having decided to establish, and the immediate necessities 
of the Nation imperatively calling for the establishment of National 
Armories and Foundries at different points, we desire to call the atten- 
tion of Congress to the advantages possessed, as a site for the same, by 
that portion of the Island of Matiniconk situate in the Delaware, 
between Burlington, in the State of New Jersey, and Bristol, in the 
State of Pennsylvania, belonging to the Burlington or Matiniconk 
Land Association. We are fully aware that many qualifications must 
be united, in order to constitute an eligible site for the location of such 
important National works. The principal qualifications necessary in the 
location for an Armory and Foundry we take to be — 

First. The requisite power to drive the machinery demanded by such 
works ; or, in this age where steam has so generally superseded the use 
of water power, facility in procuring the fuel necessary for the produc- 
tion, in the most economical manner, of such power. 

Second. Position — where health may be enjoyed, and subsistence be 
cheaply obtained. 

Third. A locality that shall combine, in an eminent degree, a facility 
of obtaining such materials and supplies as may be procured at low 
prices and with facility, of the character needed for carrying on such 
works. 

Fourth. A locality that shall combine facility in the distribution, in 
the most convenient and economical manner, of the arms to be manu- 
factured. 

Fifth. Locality as regards safety from attack and capture during war, 
which may be considered a most important point. 

Now, we are of the opinion that the site above named, and whose 
selection we desire to urge upon the Government, unites fully all the 
above requisites in a most remarkable degree. 

The Burlington Island Land Association, at the point named, are in 
possession of some two hundred and fifty acres of the Island, which lies 
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in the River Delaware, equidistant between the city of Burlington, in 
the State of New Jersey, and the town of Bristol, in the State of Penn- 
sylvania. There are some two hundred and fifty acres of the residue of 
this Island still owned by the city of Burlington, but which, if necessary, 
will and could be purchased. The Association, however, are in posses- 
sion of the most eligible and best part of the Island, with its front lying, 
for over three thousand feet, upon the river. 

As to the first requisite above named — the power to drive machinery 
in the most economical manner for such works — we take it for granted 
that the use of steam power has been found most advantageous and most 
reliable, and, all things considered, more economical, than water power, 
by the Government. In the use of such a power, cheapness of fuel and 
the facility of obtaining it enter largely into the question. In this 
particular regard, we can safely assert that we know of no locality that 
combines the two in a greater degree than the site above referred to. It 
is located but a very few hundred yards from the coal depots of Bristol, 
and the mouth of the Delaware and Lehigh Canal, which brings down 
the wealth of the inexhaustible coal fields above ; while the transporta- 
tion by rail connects Bristol not only with those mines, but with those 
of the Lackawanna, at Scranton. There can be no point named, there- 
fore, possessing higher advantages for procuring, and that in the most 
economical way, all the fuel that may be necessary for the creation of all 
the steam power demanded for the works of the Government. 

Second. In regard to this locality as to health and the procuring of 
cheap subsistence, it may be safely asserted that no locality in the United 
States can surpass it. A very large portion of it is high ground, rising 
abruptly from the river, and the soil is of a dry sandy loam, and the 
island entirely exempt from the causes that usually produce miasmatic 
diseases. We can safely assert, therefore, that the workers of an armory 
and foundry located here would be free from the obstructions and delays 
consequent upon general or periodic liability to sickness among the work- 
men. In the matter of the cheapness of subsistence, surrounded as this 
island is, and in direct constant intercourse with some of the richest and 
most bountiful agricultural regions of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, we 
may safely assert, and without the hazard of contradiction, that all kinds 
of substantial provisions can be obtained here as cheaply as in any parts 
of the Union, and of most excellent quality. 

Third. That it is a locality where such materials and supplies as shall 
be necessai-y for the construction of the works and the manufacture of 
arms can be readily obtained, will at once appear from its central position 
between the great cities of New York and Philadelphia, being in direct 



communication with the last of these cities almost hourly by water car- 
riage and by rail, and with New York several times a clay by the last 
mentioned mode of transportation. Large quantities of most excellent 
moulding stock are to be had from several points in the immediate 
vicinity and of ready access ; while all the timber required, such as pine, 
oak, walnut, and maple, can readily be had, and at reasonable prices. 

Fourth. In the facility for the distribution of the articles manufactured 
here to any part of the Union, it is not necessary to enlarge, as its loca- 
tion on the great railway lines between New York and Philadelphia 
furnish all the evidence that may be necessary upon that point, not to 
mention the means of transportation that can be so readily furnished by 
the Delaware and Lehigh, and the Delaware and Raritan Canals — the 
one in the immediate vicinage, and the other commencing at Borden town, 
but a few miles up the river. 

Fifth. As a locality that insures comparative safety from attack in 
time of war, this may be said to be unsurpassed. Situate in the midst 
of the Delaware River, the facility by which it can be protected from 
attack from the land side must be self-apparent, while the fact that it is 
twenty miles from Philadelphia up the Delaware, where only vessels of 
light draught can navigate, places it in a condition of positive secu- 
rity from all hostile attacks by water. This is certainly a most important 
point to be considered in the selection of a National Armory and Foundry. 

The site named has another advantage, which is, that it is located 
most favorably for the workmen on the score of absence of exposure to 
the temptations and vices that are sure to beset them in the midst or in 
the immediate vicinity of large cities. This fact must be considered as 
operating beneficially both as regards the health of the workmen and 
their usefulness and value to their employers. 

We have thus briefly enumerated the advantages possessed by the site, 
for which we desire the favorable attention of the Government. But 
there is another point still to be urged, and that is, the claim that New 
Jersey has, all other things being equal, to the enjoyment of at least 
some of the patronage of the General Government. While neighboring 
States have shared most bountifully in its favors, New Jersey has been 
turned empty away. Not to say anything of her past services, we can 
dwell upon her present loyalty and devotion to the Government in the 
alarming crisis that is upon us. The presence of ten full regiments in 
the field, from a State with not more population than the city of New 
York, speaks louder in favor of her zeal and patriotism than any lan- 
guage can convey. 

The establishment of a large national work within her borders would, 



we believe, be the first instance in which she has ever been largely favored 
by the General Government. The Island being located directly on the 
boundary line between the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the 
advantages arising from its selection would, in a great degree, benefit 
the State of Pennsylvania as well as the State of New Jersey. 

We believe that a careful examination of the site named is admirably 
calculated for the location of a National Armory and Foundry, and will 
at the same time furnish an opportunity to the Government of doing 
justice to a State whose just claims to share some of the Government 
patronage have been so long unheeded, and which calls loudly to assist 
in all that pertains to the advantage of honestly working for our country. 

All of which is most respectfully submitted. 

THOMAS E. MORRIS, 
President of the MatiniconTc or Burlington Island Land Association. 



We, the undersigned, do hereby approve and recommend the within 
described Burlington Island as a very desirable situation for a national 
Armory and Foundry : — 




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